The Metro at Gleason’s Gym

October 14, 2012

Boxing is on the decline among young New Yorkers. The old-timers at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn can talk about this for hours. “Used to be, young guys, they come in here to fight,” says Rodney, a regular watcher. “Somebody walk in that door, they gonna hit, and they gonna get hit. Kids now, it’s all about the points. They ain’t no brawlers left.” Still, he’s not exactly camping out anywhere else on a Saturday afternoon.

October 13 was the Metropolitan Championships, a hurdle on the way to the Golden Gloves, a gateway to boxing glory. I don’t know what Gleason’s was like a generation or two ago (according to owner Bruce Silverglade, it’s the oldest operating boxing gym in the States) but the young fighters I spoke with at the “Metro” were the most disciplined, good-natured people I’ve met in a long while. They radiate a unique vibe: swaggering, methodical, nervous.